Glickman

Rajiv Joseph’s “The North Pool” is the winner of the 2011 Glickman Award.
Joseph, a master craftsman nominated for the Pulitzer for the Iraq drama “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” which starred Robin Williams on Broadway, knows how to build a nail-biter. Here he sucks the audience into a sly cat and mouse game between Syrian-born teenager and a stodgy vice principal trying to keep a dingy suburban high school safe in the age of terrorism.
“The North Pool” emerges as a slippery parable about fear, race and violence in America today. In its world premiere at Palo Alto’s TheatreWorks, the thriller rippled with the ambiguous nature of identity and the inevitable coarsening of a culture in which money and power trump all.
The Glickman goes to the author of the best play to make its world premiere in the Bay Area. It comes with a $4,000 prize as well as a plaque for the theater that produced the show.
Competition is always fierce given the vast number of new plays debuted in the region. Honorable mentions go to Mark Jackson’s “God’s Plot” and Adam Bock’s “Phaedra” both of which were produced by Berkeley’s Shotgun Players and “Fly By Night,” which was staged by Theatreworks.
The Glickman, named for the late comedy writer and playwright Will Glickman, has been bestowed since 1984. The winner is chosen by a jury of theater critics including yours truly (Karen D’Souza of the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group), Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Avila of the SF Bay Guardian, Sam Hurwitt of Theatre Bay Area magazine and Theater Dogs blogger Chad Jones.
The prize was created to celebrate the Bay Area as a breeding ground for new plays as well to foster the development of provocative new work. Previous winners include Sarah Ruhl (“In the Next Room (or the vibrator play,) Denis Johnson (”Soul of a Whore”) and Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”). The Glickman will be presented at a ceremony at San Francisco’s Z Space on April 30.

Luis Alfaro’s smoldering “Oedipus El Rey” is the winner of the 2010 Will Glickman Award.

Sophocles goes to the barrio in this lusty gangland soap opera which electrifies Greek tragedy with sexual heat. Here Oedipus does hard time for ripping off a Costco, Jocasta splashes on the Jean Naté while glued to “All My Children” and the oracle takes cash only.

Alfaro has transported the Greeks onto the mean streets of East Los Angeles before, notably in “Electricidad,” a tart Latino take on “Electra” which had a local run at Teatro Vision, but in “Oedipus” he creates his most potent juxtaposition of classical versus cheesy, poetry versus the primal urge.

In Loretta Greco’s juicy 90-minute staging at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, the power of words and rules and logic comes smack up against the destiny of the body and loses bigtime. Fate is an unstoppable force that propels Oedipus and Jocasta into bed where they seal their doom. From a wider lens, Alfaro also raises the question of just how far prison culture has permeated into the fabric of society at large.

“The Glickman is an extraordinary honor,” said Greco in a release. “We are so glad that we can provide a rewarding artistic home for Luis and proud to have been part of the birthing of this stunning piece of theatre.”

The Glickman Award goes to the author of the best play to make its world premiere in the Bay Area. It comes with a $4,000 prize as well as a plaque for the theater that produced the show. Competition is always intense given the vast number of new works debuted in the region, which last year included Dan Hoyle’s “The Real Americans” and the Matthew Sweet musical “Girlfriend.”

“Getting the affirmation of the Glickman Award that this experiment resonated not only with audiences but with critics, as well, is one of the most humbling and rewarding moments of my career,” said Alfaro in a press release. “I am deeply grateful for the Bay Area and how it has changed and made me.”

The Glickman, named for the late comedy writer and playwright Will Glickman, has been bestowed since 1984. The winner is chosen by a jury of theater critics including yours truly (Karen D’Souza of the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group),Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle, Chloe Veltman of the New YorkTimes, Robert Avila of the SF Bay Guardian and Sam Hurwitt of Theatre Bay Area magazine.

The award was created to celebrate the Bay Area as a hotbed for new plays as well to foster the development of provocative new fare. Previous winners include Sarah Ruhl “In the Next Room (or the vibrator play,)” Dan Hoyle (“Tings Dey Happen”), Denis Johnson (“Soul of a Whore”) and Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”). The Glickman will be presented at an April ceremony in San Francisco.